Race Driver series
''TOCA '' is a racing video game series developed and published by Codemasters, initially focusing specifically on Touring car racing but more recently expanding to cover a wide variety of motorsport. Since the series began in 1997 with TOCA Touring Car Championship, the franchise has been released on PC, Sony PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Xbox, with particular success in Europe and Australia where the motorsports featured are most popular. Since TOCA Race Driver, the fourth title in the series, each new game is released under different titles in different regions, such as Pro Race Driver in the US, DTM Race Driver in Germany, and V8 Supercars in Australia. ''TOCA Touring Car Championship'' The first game of the series was released for the PC and PlayStation platforms in late 1997 in Europe, and in summer 1998 in the United States. Featuring all the licensed cars (not including privateers) and tracks from the 1997 British Touring Car Championship, the game was critically acclaimed by the European games press - especially on console where it was widely considered the best in its genre until the release of Gran Turismo (series)|Gran Turismo several months later. The drivers and cars featured in the game are: * Honda Accord - James Thompson and Gabriele Tarquini * Audi A4 - Frank Biela and John Bintcliffe * Vauxhall Vectra - John Cleland and Derek Warwick * Volvo S40 - Rickard Rydell and Kelvin Burt * Ford Mondeo - Will Hoy and Paul Radisich * Nissan Primera - David Leslie and Anthony Reid * Peugeot 406 - Tim Harvey and Patrick Watts * Renault Laguna - Alain Menu and Jason Plato Selecting a car places the player in the position of the first named driver for each team. That driver's name would then not appear in the race, and the player's name would appear instead. ''TOCA 2 Touring Cars'' The success of the first TOCA game saw a sequel arrive a year later in 1998. Whilst mainly an annual franchise update of cars and tracks, the game did add more detailed graphics, physics, multiplayer modes and other minor features. Fictional (but realistic) tracks were added, and support races such as Ford Fiestas, Formula Ford and others also arrived. The level of car damage possible during a race was also enhanced, which was a significant selling point compared with the likes of Gran Turismo. The drivers and cars featured in the main races, (IE - Ones with Touring Cars in them, not the Fiesta support races), are: * Honda Accord - James Thompson and Peter Kox * Audi A4 - Yvan Muller and John Bintcliffe * Vauxhall Vectra - John Cleland and Derek Warwick * Volvo S40 - Rickard Rydell and Gianni Morbidelli * Ford Mondeo - Will Hoy, Craig Baird and Nigel Mansell* * Nissan Primera - David Leslie and Anthony Reid * Peugeot 406 - Tim Harvey and Paul Radisich * Renault Laguna - Alain Menu and Jason Plato * It is worth noting that Nigel Mansell did drive races for Ford during this season, and is also on the drivers page in the in-game options, but does not actually feature racing in the game Similar to the first game, once you select a car, you replace a driver and partner the other driver. However, unlike the first TOCA game, this time you replace the second team driver, not the first. So at Honda, you replace Peter Kox, at Volvo, you replace Gianni Morbidelli, and so on. TOCA 2 is also notable for being one of only two Playstation One games (the other being Wipeout 3: Special Edition) to feature a four-player mode using the Playstation's link cable and split-screen at the same time - i.e., four players compete against each other simultaneously using two PlayStation consoles, with two players per console and two television screens. TOCA 2 for PC also has the ability to edit/download skins for the cars. They can be edited using any paint/drawing program. ''TOCA World Touring Cars'' As the title suggests, the in the series (released in 2000) made a significant advance in featuring various Touring Car championships from around the world, but despite carrying the TOCA name, the BTCC wasn't included. This upset a lot of fans of the series, but success continued. Once again the franchise was compared to the Gran Turismo series, and once again TOCA was warmly received by much of the specialist press, most notably scoring 10/10 in the UK edition of Official PlayStation Magazine. ''TOCA Race Driver'' The series moved onto Playstation 2 in August 2002, with the release of TOCA Race Driver (called "Pro Race Driver" in North America, "DTM Race Driver" in Germany, and V8 Supercars: Race Driver in Australia). The game took a new direction, since the main game mode featured a plot (leading to the game being labelled as a "Car-PG") where the user took on the role of a fictional race driver called Ryan McKane, trying to make a name for himself in a multitude of car championships, all the while under the shadow of his more successful older brother and haunted by the death of his father on the racetrack (as witnessed by Ryan as a child). Despite this slightly clichéd script, the racing elements of the game continued to receive positive reviews and the game went straight to number one in the UK game charts. Xbox and PC conversions followed in March 2003, with a further Xbox version released several months later at budget price adding Xbox Live support. The game came under heavy criticism because of its inaccurate damage models, in some cases a Mini was able to complete the circuit despite only having 1 wheel and no doors. Interestingly, the BTCC returned for this game. The real-life championship had undergone a transformation after most of the manufacturers had pulled out, and crowd numbers dropped, so TOCA asked Codemasters to include the series to boost the audience interest. However, the return was short-lived. ''TOCA Race Driver 2'' Main Article: TOCA Race Driver 2 Race Driver 2 was released on Xbox and PC in April 2004, with a Playstation 2 version following six months later. 2 PSP conversions were released in 2005 and 2006; the first being TOCA Race Driver 2 in Europe and Japan and the second being Race Driver 2006 in the US. The game continued to use a scripted career mode as introduced in the previous Race Driver game, but dropped the Ryan McKane character. Story-developing cutscenes were played out from a first-person perspective, with other characters never addressing the user by name. The career mode offered a wider selection of championships than previous games, featuring the likes of Supertrucks and Rallycross in addition to the traditional touring car formats. However, not for the first time in the series, the British Touring Car Championship was not included, yet the franchise continued to license the TOCA name in the title. In addition, online play was featured heavily, with support for up to 8 players on Xbox Live. The game entered the UK charts at number one, and maintained the high review scores of the series, including a 9.2 out of 10 from Official Xbox Magazine. "Featuring brand new content exclusive to PlayStation 2, V8 Supercars 2 will arrive with a whole new circuit, Catalunya, and an expanded Championship structure allowing 99 additional car and track combinations. There’s also a super hardcore “Pro-Sim mode” for ultimate realism - if you can handle it! Again, exclusively for PlayStation 2, gamers will also be able to save replays, and really drive that victory home. 31 (32 on the PS2) Licensed and Fictional global Race Locations offering 48 (49 on the PS2) tracks including Hockenheim from the German DTM series and Surfers Paradise from the Australian V8 series." Codemasters The PlayStation 2 version will also allow up to 8 PS2 on-line players, without broadband Internet service being required, too. ''TOCA Race Driver 3'' The most recent TOCA game was released in February 2006, and continued to expand on the types of motorsport available. Open wheel, GT, Oval racing, Rallying and Offroad racing were all featured, and can be raced in either a detailed Pro Career mode or an open-ended World Tour. Up to 12 players are supported via Xbox Live and the PlayStation 2 version supports up to 8 on-line. This series is the only current racing simulator that allows PlayStation players to race on-line. It received good reviews, frequently being compared favourably to Gran Turismo 4 and Forza Motorsport, in the aspects of cars on track, damage and AI. Race Driver Create and Race It is the first game in the TOCA Series that is available for Nintendo DS and was released in September 2007. It includes many licensed vehicles and tracks from across the world. It has also the ability to allow players to create their own circuit either using the stylus(albeit rather simply) or by using the custom made pieces made by the game developers. Then you can also exchange tracks online using a Nintendo Wi-fi Connection. It also has career, multiplayer and single-race modes. ''Race Driver: GRID'' Codemasters, previously going under the working title "Race Driver One", will officially be titled "Race Driver: GRID." This will be the full and official title of the long-awaited sequel to TOCA Race Driver 3. The game will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Games for Windows. Race Driver: GRID is slated for a mid-2008 release. GRID 2 GRID 2 is a racing game developed and published by Codemasters for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC released in 2013. The game features more cars and updated graphics, only a year later, its next installment came out. GRID: Autosport GRID: Autosport, and vagly known as GRID 3 is a racing game developed and published by Codemasters for the usual platforms. The game now features new tracks, karts and more manufacturer's! Category:Games in Race Driver Series